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Aside from who the Detroit Pistons will pick in Thursday’s NBA draft, Jerami Grant’s future is the biggest thing on most people’s minds. Well, the day we’ve all been waiting for has come as the Pistons traded the forward to the Portland Trail Blazers for a package that has received, well, mixed reviews.
But first, the details from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
The Bucks’ pick is protected 1-4, and the deal includes Detroit acquiring the No. 36 Portland Trail Blazers pick in Thursday’s NBA draft for the Blazers at No. 46, as well as a 2025 second-round pick Portland had owed Detroit retrievals, sources said. The Pistons also get a 2026 second-round pick from the Blazers, which will be the most favorable between Portland and the United States Pelicans from New Orleans‘.
It’s a lot to digest. Let’s find out what happened and where we go from here.
1. Well, Jerami Grant is finally on the way. What was your first reaction?
SeanCorp: It’s finally over! The second reaction was more complicated. I wanted to see more value from Grant and he would have gotten more last offseason. But apparently the Pistons eyed this trade exception and the possibility of shipping Grant with zeal for free. They wanted the cap room. You better have a plan for the cap room. If I had to rank the worst case scenarios, I’d say: 1. Renew Grant, 2. Trade Grant for another mediocre veteran with bad long-term money, 3. Keep Grant as an expiring in-season, 4. What we’re doing tonight have seen. So… I’m fine. It’s over!
Laz Jackson: That feels low. But according to The Athletic’s James Edwards III, that’s the best formal offer Detroit has received for Jerami. I know #7 was probably out of the question for Portland once the lottery ended, but the Pistons didn’t NEED to trade Jerami to Portland (or at all). I like that Detroit gets its own second-round pick in 2025. I bet the Pistons have a player in mind at 36 who wouldn’t be available at 46 (Ismael Kamagate? Hometown hero Caleb Houstan? WinnerGuy Christian Braun?), and there’s always a 2 percent chance Giannis will grab a wrist breaks or something, and this election for 2025 is a lot better than we imagine. I just don’t like relying on outside odds to get value out of trades.
However, this is a classic Detroit Troy Weaver. Part relationships via asset games (Jerami needs to trade somewhere he wants to go instead of hanging on until someone despairs when the music stops), part appreciates his scouting keenness (Keegan Murray can do 80% of what Jerami already can! And we can make him better than Jerami once we get him in the house!), part Crazy Like A Fox (we could absolutely look it up in September and the starting lineup is Cade, Bridges, Bey, Murray and Ayton, what a … very nice mixture of youth, athleticism and ability).
Troy couldn’t even get Nassir Little in here. Come on.
Brady Fredericksen: Not great, Bob! I was blown away but thought it would be the Blazers pick in 2025. Then I realized it was dollar select and went from confused to frustrated. I’m sure there is a plan, but after sitting back and looking at it holistically, it’s still not great.
Ben Gulker: So I’m guessing Jerami Grant isn’t worth lottery picks then? I would not have expected this.
Ben Quagliata: At first it was the classic “Is that all?” To take a step back, I can’t comment on that until we see what Weaver does with the cap space, whether it’s about someone like Ayton, Brunson, Miles Bridges, or Collin free sexton or use the space to absorb a bad contract for assets.
Chris Daniels: I saw bits and pieces on Twitter before getting to the actual deal, so I was sure the impression I was getting was wrong.
2. How, if at all, does this trade affect who Detroit picks with the No. 5 on Thursday?
SeanCorp: Not in the slightest. They probably knew with a 90 percent certainty that this deal with Portland was going through even before the draft lottery happened. You probably knew by last season’s close, as we all speculated. They would still trade Jerami, and they will still pick whoever they think is the best player. Weaver builds his roster with his “process”. Endnote TBD.
Laz Jackson: Oh, hey, there’s fire behind all that Keegan Murray smoke the Pistons’ beatwriters have been observing.
Brady Fredericksen: God I hope not. I think it’s still between Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray and Bennedict Mathurin. There is absolutely no need to draft Murray because they traded Jerami. This team is far from a point where they should draft for position needs. You need talent. The same logic applies to Ivey or Mathurin eating up Killian Hayes’ minutes. Get better players. I also think that more minutes for Saddiq Bey at PF will help alleviate some of his defensive limitations.
Ben Gulker: That looks more like it affects agency than design, and design comes first, so I don’t think about it much…unless there’s already another iron in the fire.
Ben Quagliata: I doubt it. The team is still far too bad and young to allow anything other than “best available player” as a draft strategy.
Chris Daniels: I would guess not at all. We all seemed certain, of course, that any pre-draft Jerami trade guaranteed we’d have two bites in the apple with this sweet 2nd 1st all-rounder.
3. Detroit’s plan is still a bit hazy from the outside, what does this move say about GM Troy Weaver and the Pistons’ plan for this offseason?
SeanCorp: I think that means they will obviously try to sign Deandre Ayton, although it makes me less confident that they have a tongue-in-cheek deal with the Suns because that would likely have involved Grant. Now it feels like they’re ready to call Phoenix’s bluff. Threaten to sign Ayton on an offer hand and challenge her to find a player who doesn’t want to be in it. Or you offer that Milwaukee 1st, Kelly Olynyk, and say take it or leave it. It’s obviously not the best deal the Suns would be offered for Ayton’s services, but if for some reason he’s determined to sign with Detroit, then maybe the Suns will say yes and not risk a bad mood in the locker room.
If they pass anyway, then the Pistons better be willing to trade some of that $40M+ in cap space for some bad contracts and future assets to the team foolish enough to sign Kyrie Irving. These assets then simply feed into the assessment of the value of the grant deal. Right now it’s… a C+ to a B-? How that plan plays out this offseason could make Weaver look like a genius or a complete idiot. I can’t wait to find out which ones.
Laz Jackson: They’re pretty clearly (and allegedly, according to multiple reports) on the trail of Ayton HARD. Thereafter? I’m not sure. Will they swing for two big FA signings? Are you eating a D’Angelo Russell or a Danny Green? Trying to pick up an established young vet, repeating the Jerami Grant Experience? I do not know. All I know is that cap guy Anthony Leotti just became the most important guy you’ve never heard of in Detroit.
Brady Fredericksen: They say they want to limit space – either to make bad deals with attached assets or to give them away in free hands. I’m on record (a lottt) that cap space isn’t as attractive in Detroit as it is elsewhere. It’s not attractive to the high-level talent you want to spend money on. It has been proven that overpaying for mid-level talent is a way. This was a Dumars and SVG issue. Weaver will likely try to go big game hunting for Ayton and Brunson. When does he get her? Big! I like to eat crow. I just don’t see two winning players who are both about to enter their primes and come to Detroit.
Ben Gulker: I’m a little stunned to be honest. I’m not surprised a trade happened, but I’m surprised *this* trade happened. I was hoping Weaver would be patient this summer, but maybe this portends something bigger than I expected? Fuzzy is the right word. I feel very insecure.
Ben Quagliata: Well, see my answer for #1. I think this trade and plan theoretically fit together. We’ll see if it works as planned.
Chris Daniels: I was hoping now that we were headed in the right direction, that we would see Weaver make some shooting trades/moves that we would kind of see coming. But then again, I like having a guy who seems a little crazy and makes you think (hope?) that he’s continuing to pull off stuff like jerami poaching out of thin air.
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As always, we want to hear from you all in the comments, spit out your guts. vent. Comment it. After all, we still have the damn blueprint to get through!
1. Well, Jerami Grant is finally on the way. What was your first reaction?
2. How, if at all, does this trade affect who Detroit picks with the No. 5 on Thursday?
3. Detroit’s plan is still a bit hazy from the outside, what does this move say about GM Troy Weaver and the Pistons’ plan for this offseason?
